Philippine Aquaculture Stakeholders Attend USSEC IPRS Technology AgriSchool in Thailand

Philippine aquaculture stakeholder, including tilapia fish farmers and an aquafeed miller attended USSEC’s In Pond Raceway System (IPRS) Technology AgriSchool in Hua Hin, Thailand from October 14 to 18. The Paps Nera Aquaculture Farm and Santeh Feeds Corp. participated in the five-day course.
The USSEC IPRS AgriSchool aims to teach the participants essential information to understand how the IPRS system works and the benefits of the system. The new technology in USSEC’s IPRS technology helps improve fish farmers’ productivity and efficiency, which helps to create a preference and increase the demand for U.S. Soy products.
The resource speakers discussed the practical issues of planning, design, construction and implementation of IPRS technology, including the following topics:

  • In-Pond Raceway System (IPRS) technology
  • IPRS design and components
  • IPRS installation and commissioning
  • IPRS maintenance and troubleshooting
  • IPRS appropriate rearing techniques and management methods
  • Energy requirements and usage management
  • Feeds and feeding practices
  • Importance of quality feeds
  • Link of feeds to certification and sustainability
  • Value of U.S. Soy for high quality feed production and for helping with certification (U.S. Soy Sustainability Assurance Protocol [SSAP])
  • Water and water quality management
  • Waste collection and waste management
  • Essentials of data collection, manual and automatic, and record keeping
  • Economics: how to make it work for you
  • Essentials of on-farm calculations
  • Ponds culture and its aquatic environment
  • Production Planning
  • Fingerling production and management
  • Importance of high quality diets
  • Multi culture and IPRS, how and what species
  • Energy Usage management and Alternative energy sources
  • Financing and insurance

 
The participants participated in a farm visit to an IPRS commercial farm. The Manit Aquaculture Co., LTD. farm and USSEC have collaborated to ensure that the IPRS system designed and built was as close to the IPRS Fixed Raceway Standard as possible.
The Philippines has two participants at Paps Nera Aquaculture Farm in Batangas Province who are planning to to build fixed IPRS in Laguna and Batangas, as an alternative to their tilapia cage production and culture operation, due to occurring water quality issues in Taal Lake during some periods of the year. Santeh Feeds Corp. is interested in IPRS technology and is planning to disseminate the IPRS technology through seminars to their aqua feed customers as an alternative production method.
33 participants representing different aquaculture stakeholders including tilapia fish farmers, aqua feedmillers, hatchery, and feed additives attended the USSEC IPRS AgriSchool workshop.
“The USSEC IPRS AgriSchool has answered almost all my questions to IPRS technology after the seminar/workshop in Manila on September 11,” states Daniel Cabrera, Feed Sales Manager, Santeh Feeds Corp. “The IPRS Technology will help tilapia fish farmers to increase their production.”

(L-R) Levy Manalac of USSEC, Adrianne Paps Nera and Arliza Gerente of Paps Nera Aquaculture Farm, and Daniel Cabrera of Santeh Feeds Corp. during the USSEC IPRS Technology AgriSchool last October 14-18, 2019 in Hua Hin, Thailand.
(L-R) Arliza Gerente of Paps Nera Aquaculture Farm, Daniel Cabrera of Santeh Feeds Corp., Levy Manalac of USSEC and Adrianne Paps Nera of Paps Nera Aquaculture Farm during the visit in Manit Aquaculture Co., LTD. IPRS farm last USSEC IPRS Technology AgriSchool, October 14-18, 2019 in Hua Hin, Thailand.
Participants in the USSEC IPRS Technology AgriSchool, October 14-18, 2019 in Hua Hin, Thailand.